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Mortal Points and MR Ratings
Almost all of Palladium's games that involve immensely powerful characters incorporate a concept called Mega Damage. On the surface the rules of Mega Damage combat and Standard Damage combat are identical save one thing: A single point of Mega Damage is equivalent to one hundred points of Standard Damage. Now, this obviously causes an issue, an issue that makes Rifts INCREDIBLY entertaining and may even be a system that gets implemented into this conversion if the Mega Rating system below doesn't work out. However, since this rule heavily unbalances Pathfinder and makes the system almost impossible to play as is. A single point of Mega Damage is enough to force a 20th level character to make a save against Massive Damage even if it doesn't kill them, and the average laser pistol does a d6 of Mega Damage. meaning that a 1st level character only needs to point and hit a 20th level character to completely vaporize them with absolutely no possibility of survival. God forbid they go up against a character with a laser rifle (3d6) or a rocket launcher (d6x10). There is one weapon that does 6d6+72 points of Mega Damage, and in vanilla Rifts is available at 1st level. So, the two new rules below are meant to simulate this massive difference in power-level while maintaining some form of balance. MR Ratings and their Relationships In order to preserve this feel of massive damage and incredibly dangerous combat, I've incorporated a series of Mega Ratings to describe how materials, creatures, and damage interact with one another. These Ratings are assigned to every single object in the game. Most normal Pathfinder objects are of Ordinary MR. Mortal creatures are normally Ordinary MR unless specifically stated that they are not, and almost all scenery and natural surroundings are Ordinary MR. High-powered energy weapons, advanced armors, vehicular plating, and more than a few creatures from planets and dimensions with more strenuous environments are Good MR. These are more powerful and dangerous enemies and weapons than Ordinary MR equivalents. Almost all magic is considered Good MR by default (at least in the Primary Setting of Rifts Earth), making even low-level spell-casters a threat to be reckoned with against unprepared characters, and higher-level ones being able to sow more destruction than ever before. Massive robots, space-ships, anti-aircraft weaponry, gods, Superman, and other similarly-powerful entities are of Amazing MR. Getting a hold of these kinds of weapons and armor make even the lowliest character a potentially devestating combatant or entirely immune to harm from most sources. For example, a suit of Amazing MR Armor renders one completely immune to damage from Ordinary MR attacks, while an Amazing MR weapon bypasses almost all sources of defensive DR and will, quite often, cleave Ordinary MR targets in half with almost no effort. However, the interactions between weaponry, objects, and armor is difficult to detail in words, so take a look at the tables below for all the various ways the MR's interact with one another. Notes: * = an Attack is considered ANY source of damage, including spells, melee weapons, energy weapons, falling, thrown objects, Environmental Dangers, traps, etc. ** = the MR shift and the listed effects ONLY apply if the character's Shield bonus is in effect. For example, if they shield bash and lose their bonus, then they are not protected and thus do not benefit from this shift. *** = Nat. DR is an Acronym for "Natural Armor Damage Reduction." Creatures with thick hide normally have a Natural Armor bonus to AC. In these new rules, this not only makes it harder for a solid blow to land on a foe (AC) but also absorbs some of the damage in the form of DR that is ONLY beaten by weapons of MR equal to or greater than the creature's normal MR. This DR does not stack with other sources of DR, it simply overlaps. A weapon would only do full damage if it meets all DR requisites, as normal. The only exception is in regards to Armor DR, which DOES stack with Nat. DR if the weapon does not bypass both. **** = Armor DR is an Acronym for "Armor Damage Reduction." Armor not only makes it harder for a solid blow to land on a foe by turning or absorbing impact, it also directly decreases the damage by an amount equal to its Armor Bonus (including Enhancement Bonuses, of course). This DR is beaten ONLY by weapons of MR higher than the armor itself. This DR does not stack with other sources of DR, it simply overlaps. A weapon would only do full damage if it meets all DR requisites, as normal. The only exception is in regards to Nat. DR, which DOES stack with Armor DR if the weapon does not bypass both. Size Disparities and its effect on MR Combat A creature three sizes larger than its opponent is treated as if they were one MR higher for melee attacks from that Opponent only, or for melee attacks aimed at that target. So, an Ordinary Storm Giant would take normal damage from an Ordinary Human's attacks, but a Halfling would not do hit-point damage. The halfling would do Non-lethal damage, and the Storm Giant's Natural Armor would now apply as DR. If a creature is already Amazing MR, then the attacker is treated as one MR lower for attacks. If a creature STILL wouldn't change, then the attacker cannot do damage at all with any weapon that is not at least one more than its MR, or large enough to negate the penalty. For example. An Ordinary Human charges at a Good Gargantuan dragon. His attacks would do nothing (Ordinary vs Amazing=0) unless he wielded a Good weapon (Good vs Amazing can do NL). But, if the Gargantuan Dragon was an Amazing MR creature, then the Human would not be able to damage with a Good weapon either, since it would be down-graded to Ordinary (Ordinary vs Amazing = 0). Natural MR of a Creature A creature's MR determines its raw damage MR. A creature of Ordinary MR does Ordinary MR damage, and a creature of Good MR does Good MR damage, and an Amazing MR creature does Amazing MR damage. This is pretty self-explanatory, but it does require an explanation, especially when a creature uses a weapon fo a different MR than they are. A creature's Natural, Unarmed, and Melee attacks are of this MR, as are any special abilities, be they spell-like, extraordinary, or supernatural. An Amazing MR Dragon's breath weapon is Amazing MR, as are their claw attacks. Even when wielding melee weapons of different MR, they still do their normal MR damage. Melee weapons used by creatures of a higher MR than the weapon itself have a chance of breaking it upon use. If a melee weapon wielded by a higher MR creature strikes a creature of an MR higher than the weapon, the difference between the striker and the weapon, and the difference between the defender and the weapon are added together. This # is then doubled, and added to the critical fail chance of the weapon. So, an Ordinary MR weapon wielded by a Good MR creature striking a Good MR creature would have a crit fail chance of 5 (1+2*(Good-Ordinary+Good-Ordinary)). Striking an Ordinary creature, the critical fail chance is only 3, while an Amazing creature swinging an Ordinary weapon at an Amazing creature has a critical fail chance of 9. What this number means is that if an attack roll (on the die) is less than the number, the weapon gains the fragile condition. If the roll is a 1 and the confirmation roll succeeds, the weapon is completely destroyed. Mortal Points and Ill-effects of MP damage Mortal Points adds an additional level of danger to the game, while also increasing a player's survivability. This rule augments the normal rules for taking damage below 0 HP. Mortal Point Calculations A character has Mortal Points equal to their level plus their Constitution score. Enhancement, racial, or other permanent bonuses to Constitution can increase this number, and Negative levels, Constitution Damage, and Constitution Drain can decrease it. A sixth level character with 8 Constitution has 14 MP, while a 15 hit-die monster with 20 constitution has 35 MP. This number is the great equalizer, making it possible for characters who get a hold of high MR weapons to tackle foes they normally wouldn't be able to, since even a moderate-damage weapon like a Laser Rifle (3d6 of Good MR damage) could take down a 20th level character in a few shots, if unprepared or fought intelligently. Mortal Point Damage with Regards to MR Mortal Points are damaged as detailed in the tables above, depening on the armor and MR of the target and the MR of the weapon/attack being used. Damage to MP does an identical amount of damage to a character's HP. Otherwise it would be possible for a character to withstand MORE damage before being defeated if struck with higher MR weapons at low levels, since a character's MP will often be higher than their HP at 1st or 2nd level. Mortal Damage Ill Effects Suffering Mortal Point damage has a number of side-effects. For every point of MP damage suffered, a character has a cumulative -1 penalty to skill checks, attack rolls, and ability checks, and for every two points of MP damage suffered a character has a cumulative -1 penalty to all saving throws and their AC. If they suffer damage equal to or greater than 1/2 their MP from a single attack, they also must make a Fortitude or WIll saving throw, whichever is higher, to avoid being knocked unconscious. The DC is equal to 10+damage dealt, and the save is modified as mentioned above. They are unconscious for d6 minutes or until woken up (full-round action), but will function as if Staggered until the MP damage is healed. If they suffer damage equal to or greater than 3/4 of their MP from a single attack, they also take a d4 of ability damage to two randomly selected attributes (roll d6 and reroll any duplicates). If a character suffers MP damage equal to or greater than their MP in a single attack, they are instantly slain AND their body is completely destroyed. These ratios are based on a character's full MP, not their current MP, so a character with 20 MP would have to take 10 points of damage to save against Unconcsiousness, 15 points to suffer ability damage, or 20 points to be completely destroyed. Even if reduced to 10 MP, the ratios remain the same. When MP is reduced to 0, the character is slain. Recovering Mortal Damage Recovering Mortal Point damage is a bit more difficult to do. It can only be done via magic if the spell is prepared as two MR above the target, so an Ordinary MR character would need to be cured with an Amazing MR spell in order to magically recover Mortal Point Damage. Players also recover one Mortal Point per full night of rest, or 3 points for a full day of rest. Applying First aid can be done as normal, but the DC to treat Mortal Point damage is 10 higher. If they suffered any ability damage due to suffering large amounts of MP damage, then the ability damage must be restored (as normal) before the MP damage can recover. Negative HP and Stabilization When a character's HP is reduced to 0, they function as detailed in the Pathfinder rules normally. However, when reduced to -1 HP, the MP rules take over, and they begin taking MP damage unless they are Stabilized. If a character is reduced to below 0 HP and has taken MP damage prior or after, then they are in far more dire straits than if they had just been reduced to below 0 normally. They DC to naturally stabilize is 20+MP damage suffered, and the spells required to stabilize them must be two MR higher, as mentioned above. First-aid can be used to attempt to stabilize them, but the DC is 10 higher (DC 25) and must be done repeatedly (every minute) to prevent them from once again beginning to die. Ten successful checks must be made in a row to properly stabilize the character, and allow them to beginning healing at the normal rate. Failing this check starts over the process and causes the character to take a d4 of Mortal Damage.